The Ward of Hogwarts
by Isis Malfoy
Summary: Summery: What if McGonagall had gotten her way when Harry was a baby? What would Harry have been like?
1. Prologue

The Ward of Hogwarts

Summery: What if McGonagall had gotten her way when Harry was a baby? What would Harry have been like?

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: The characters in this story are not mine. I simply put the Imperius Curse on them and made them do what I wanted. I promise I'll lift the curse and put them back undamaged. 

A/N: The first part of this chapter is lifted directly from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's stone. No infringement was intended, but it was necessary for my plotline

A/N 2: This story will be AD/MM although it will be rather slow getting there. Also, this story will not be updated with my usual regularity. It's a rather slow story, I get an idea for a chapter and I post it, but I hope to have at least one part up a week, at worst. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys it. Remember, Read and Review.

Prologue: He Can't Stay Here

"I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now."

"You don't mean – you can't mean the people who live here?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore - you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who were less like us. And they've got this son – I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!"

"It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."

"A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand him! He'll be famous – a legend – I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future – there will be books written about Harry – every child in our world will know his name!"

"Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember. Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"

Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, then opened her mouth again. "I have a very bad feeling about them Albus. Let's take him back please. We won't let him turn out wrong because of something as silly as fame." It was the closest she'd ever come to begging him for anything.

"We?" He questioned her. Amusement sparkled in his eyes and the corners of his mouth twitched as he tried to hide his grin. 

But Minerva wasn't in the mood. "Fine." She snapped. "Me. Alright. I'll take care of him. Just so long as he doesn't stay here." She crossed her arms in front of her and stared at him. 

Dumbledore sighed. He'd known her to long not to know better then to mess with the steely glint in her eyes. Oh he knew that if he put his foot down she'd back off, but the he'd spend the next eleven years, at least, hearing about it through the subtle barbs she was so gifted with. And heaven help him if she ever decided that Harry had been mistreated during his stay with his aunt and uncle. "Very well." He conceded. "Harry will come to live at Hogwarts. And you may be the one who cares for him."


	2. The Terrible Twos

A/N: I'm glad this has been so well received. I'll update as often as I can, but it's going to take some time. Each chapter will cover one or more events (depends on how inspired I am) of a year or so of his life. However I won't necessarily do every single year of his life. That would be a bit tedious.

Enjoy. And Review!

Chapter One: The Terrible twos

It was the beginning of another new year at Hogwarts and as the older students filed in they noticed a new addition to the head table. A high chair in between the chair of the Headmaster and the deputy headmistress. In the chair was a toddler with dark hair and green eyes. It had been rumored for a few years now that Professor McGonagall had a child, some of the wilder rumors even said she was caring for Harry Potter, but no one had ever seen the child. He spent most of his time either with McGonagall herself or with Dumbledore, when she was teaching. Upon closer inspection, the students noticed the lightening bolt shaped scar on his forehead and a buzz went up in the room, for everyone then knew who the boy was. 

McGonagall stood and leaned over to the boy, looking him directly in the eye. He stared back at her. "I'm going to get some of the students Harry. You sit quietly, and patiently. Understand?"

Harry nodded, his wide eyes not blinking. His eyes followed her as she swept from the room, but once she was out of sight he picked up the small stuffed Pegasus sitting on his tray and began to fly it in the air. He was content to play until the oak doors to the hall opened and Professor McGonagall entered with a line of first years behind her. A pout trembled on his lower lip as she approached with the other children. Harry dropped the toy and reached his hands out. "Mama!" He demanded petulantly. 

With a sigh at the chuckles that arose from the older children, Minerva turned to face her young charge. "Yes Harry?"

He stretched his arms toward her. "Mama, out!"

"No."

He screwed his face up tightly and she recognized the temper tantrum forming. She sent a pleading glance to Dumbledore, who smiled in amusement at her. But he picked up his golden cup and twisted it in the light, fascinating the boy with the patterns it made. McGonagall sighed again, this time in relief and returned her attention to sorting the first years. 

It was two weeks into the term when James Potter's success in sneaking away became apparent in his son. Harry was coloring on the floor of the headmaster's office when he became bored. So he abandoned his crayons for his animals. He picked up two of them, a hippogriff and his Pegasus and brought them over to the big desk. His wide eyes stared up at the man sitting at it. "Papa, play!"

"Uncle Albus." The old man corrected automatically. No one was quite sure where Harry had learned the word papa, or why he chose to bestow it on Dumbledore, but it was a habit McGonagall wanted him broken of. So even though he didn't mind it, he tried to do what she wished. "And I can't right now. I have to finish my letter first."

Harry frowned and walked away. He set the toys down and looked at the locked door. He wanted out, he decided. With a smile, he slipped over to one of the little round tables and grabbed Dumbledore's wand. He'd had to climb rather carefully onto a chair to get it, but he'd managed. Then he tip-toed over to the door and pointed the wand, exactly the way his mama did. "Open." He whispered. The door moved a bit, but it was locked. Harry glared at the door in frustration. He spent a few minutes trying to remember the words the grownups said when they wanted to open the door. "Alo…Alo…ha…moor…ha…" He heard a click as the door unlocked. With a smile he commanded the door to open again, and this time it did. He walked over to the door, then at the last second, he turned and stuck his head back in. "Bye Papa!" He called cheerfully. 

Dumbledore chuckled. "Bye? Where are you going Harry?"

"Mama." 

Dumbledore nodded, but didn't look up, secure in the knowledge that the door was shut. "Well, have a good trip Harry."

Harry ambled down the stairs, trying to remember how to get to Mama's classroom. When he couldn't find it he kept wandering looking into every room where he heard voices. Finally he made it all the way down to the Dungeons and Snape's classroom. 

He walked into the open door, right in the middle of the Gryffindor/Slytherin lesson. Harry made his way to the front of the room, and as he passed the tables the students stopped what they were doing to stare at him. Finally at the front table, Snape noticed the silence and looked up. He caught sight of the toddler and frowned. "Mr. Potter, where are you supposed to be?"

Harry shrugged and grinned mischievously. Then, using the professor's robes to help he scrambled into Snape's lap. None of the students could resist a chuckle as their no-nonsense potions instructor adjusting the baby so he could sit comfortably. Once he was settled, Harry threw his arms around the potion master's neck. "Hi Uncle Se'rus."

Snape ran his hand over the boy's unruly hair and kept him close. "Hello Harry. Where are you supposed to be right now?"

Harry shrugged again. Then he noticed the bottles sitting on Snape's desk and the cauldron next to it and smiled. "I do?" He began to reach for the vials. 

Snape pulled him back a bit. "You may help." Snape measured out a portion of the liquid and handed it to Harry. "Pour that into the cauldron Harry. Pour it slowly."

Harry stuck his tongue out as he very slowly poured the liquid in. Snape watched, both amused and a bit proud. "Harry James Potter, what are you doing down here?" Came the stern voice of Minerva McGonagall from the doorway. 

Harry dropped the bottle into the cauldron, much to Snape's dismay and reached out happily for his Mama. "Hi Mama!"

She lifted him out of Snape's arms. "Thank you for watching him Severus." Snape nodded and began to fish the pieces of glass out of the pot. "Harry, you were supposed to stay with Uncle Albus. What are you doing down here. We were both very worried about you."

He glared at her petulantly. "Papa boring!" He declared, crossing his arms in front of him. "I wanted play. Uncle Se'rus play with Harry."

"That doesn't matter, you were supposed to stay where I told you. Now you have to have a time out."

"NO!"

"Yes Harry." She leveled a very serious gaze at him over the tops of her glasses.  She swept out of the room, child in her arms.

McGonagall carried him back up to the Headmaster's office and set him on the steps. "Three minutes Harry." She told him. Then she turned her back on him and walked over to where Albus sat at his desk. "He was down in the dungeons with Severus."

"I still don't understand how he got out. I locked the door." Albus muttered to her. He sounded bewildered, but his eyes clearly showed how amused he was. 

"We'll ask him later." McGonagall assured him. "I don't understand why he's doing this. He knows better than to wander off in the castle and this is the third time this week he's done it."

"He's bored Minerva. He needs to have playmates his own age."

"Who? Lucius Malfoy has a son his age, but Harry is _not_ going to be exposed to that kind of prejudice. Remus doesn't have children…."

"What about the Weasleys? Bill and Charlie have a large number of siblings and I believe there are few close to his age."

She thought for a moment. "Yes. Perhaps that will do. I'll talk to Molly tomorrow about setting up a play date for him."


	3. Primary School Begins

A/N: Thank you to all my reviewers, and for anyone wondering if Snape will turn out differently from the man we all know and love, the answer is: not entirely. Don't believe me? Read this chapter. 

And Freelancer, of course I won't think you're copying me! Please post yours, I want to see your take on it!

Chapter 3: Primary School Begins

Harry stood in front of the mirror in his room and tried very hard to adjust his robes. They were new robes from his papa, deep emerald green, the same color as his mama's. "Mama!" He finally called in exasperation. 

She swept into the room, her hair still down, curling around her shoulders. "Yes Harry?"

"I can't get my robes right."

She knelt in front of him and adjusted the robes accordingly. Then with a smile she sat back and appraised him. "You look quite handsome Mr. Potter. Quite grown up."

"Papa did a good job picking them out." Minerva sighed. They had this argument on a daily basis. Harry turned from the mirror and stared at her defiantly. "He is my papa! When I went to Ron's to spend the night, I paid very close attention to how a dad was supposed to behave, and Ron's dad treats him just like Papa treats me!" He studied her, and she was struck by how much of an affect Dumbledore had on him. The look in his eyes as he appraised her was as uncomfortably probing as the look in Albus's eyes when he was doing the same thing. It appeared there was no way around his attachment. "Why don't you want him to be my Papa?"

She sat on his bed and pulled him into her arms. There was a tightening in her chest that Minerva tried to ignore as she kissed his head. "It has nothing to do with want Harry. In order for him to be your Papa, Albus would have to be my husband. And he isn't."

"Would you like him to be your husband?" 

This made a little chuckle escape her lips and gave him a little squeeze. "Precocious little man. It isn't quite that simple. I can't just want him to be my husband, and then poof, it happens." 

Harry didn't miss the sadness in his mama's voice, but she stood up, and he lost his chance to push further. "I have to go do my hair Harry, and we have to leave soon."

"Leave your hair down Mama!" She looked at him in surprise. Harry jumped of his bed and ran over to her. "I like your hair down Mama. It's pretty down. Percy didn't believe me when I said you were the prettiest mama in the whole world. I want him to eat his words!"

            His little hands were balled into fists, and she figured he'd defended her rather vocally. It also seemed rather important to him. "Very well Harry. I'll leave my hair down today." 

Before long it was time to meet the first years. Harry ran along behind Minerva and waited, his hand in hers at the top of the steps. "Here're the first years Professor McGonagall." Hagrid announced as he led them up. Then he waved at Harry and winked. "Seems your Mama's set up a bit of a treat for you too Harry!"

Harry looked up at his mama. She was trying very hard to hide her smile. "What sort of treat?"

"Go on now." Hagrid told someone in the crowd of first years. "Give him room there." He instructed the students. 

Soon enough there was a shock of red hair weaving through the crowd. "Ron!" Harry ran down and hugged his best friend hello. "You get to spend the feast with us?"

"Better. You and I are going to start lessons together this year!"

Harry looked up at his mama with a wide grin. "Really?"

"Yes really Harry. Now, I need to get the first years ready for the sorting, you two should decide where you're going to sit."

Harry nodded and pulled Ron towards the staff door to the Hall. "Where do you want to sit?" Harry asked as he threw all his weight against the door.

"What d'ya mean? Where do you usually sit?"

Harry shrugged and motioned for Ron to help him. They threw both pushed against the heavy door, but being scrawny and little, the door wasn't budging. In between grunts, Harry answered Ron's question. "For the Feasts I usually sit at the Head table with Mama and Papa. But I sit at all the tables. Although I sit at Slytherin least." He said making a face. "There just aren't a lot of Slytherins that I like. Uncle Severus is alright, but a lot of them are just rotten."

Ron shrugged. "Let's sit at the head table. Charlie will be so jealous."

Harry nodded and then gave up on the door. He banged his fist against it and shouted into the key hole. After a few moments, Snape opened the door and stared down at them. Ron shrank back a little, but Harry just stared back. "Thank you Uncle Severus."

"A little less noise next time." The potions master counseled in a soft voice.

Harry shrugged and dragged Ron through the door. The walked together up to the Headmaster's chair and stood patiently at his side. Albus ignored him, continuing to sweep his eyes across the returning students at their tables. It was a game he and Harry played, and Ron had been around plenty long enough to play it as well. For a moment to the two boys allowed themselves to be ignored, then Harry "snuck" around to the other side of the chair and on the very whispered count of three he and his friend jumped. They landed on Albus's lap and the old wizard feigned surprise as he put an arm around each of them to keep them from falling off his lap. "Well, it appears some over grown pixies have gotten into the castle." 

He turned to the Defense against the Dark Arts Professor and Quirrel smiled back at the joke. "What shall we do with this type of pixie, Slatero?" Albus asked merrily.

Quirrel appeared to be studying them rather intently. "Well s-s-sir, I do b-b-believe that p-particular type of p-p-pixie, is best handled w-w-with tickling."

The boys squealed as they were tickled, giggling rather loudly, until Harry managed to gasp out, "Stop! Papa, stop! It's us, Ron and Harry! We're not pixies!"

The tickling stopped. "No?" The Headmaster looked at them over his glasses and the two boys did their best to look like little boys. "My goodness. You're right. I'm sorry boys." He put an extra chair on either side of him and sat Harry in the one on his right and Ron on his left. "Sit tight boys, the sorting will be starting very soon."

And indeed it was only moments later when McGonagall led the first years over to the stool and the hat. Harry waved at the frightened students and they all smiled at him. As the sorting went on, Dumbledore leaned down to the boy on his right. "I wonder why Minerva wore her hair down tonight."

"I asked her to." Harry whispered back, none to quietly. "I like it down. Don't you think she looks pretty?"

The headmaster studied his deputy for a moment. He liked the way the long ebony locks kept falling forward into her face as she leaned her head down. She looked younger as well. Not, that 70 was old for a witch, but Minerva had that lucky kind of beauty, where when she'd been young she'd looked older than her years, and as she'd aged she'd begun to look younger, so that with her hair down and a smile on her face, she really only looked about 40. "I think she looks quite beautiful Harry."

Harry looked satisfied and Albus turned back to watching the new students. The hat had gotten all the way through "Persin, Aloquacia" when he felt a small hand tugging on his sleeve. "Papa, Mama says you can't be my real papa because you're not married to her. Don't you want to marry Mama and be my real Papa?"

"Its not that simple." Dumbledore finally muttered after much stuttering. 

The next morning Harry stood, rather impatiently in the headmaster's office, facing the fire place. There was a loud bang and Ron rolled out, dusting himself off. "One of these days I'll get that right." He told Harry with a cheeky grin. "So what're we doing today?"

Harry shrugged and led the other boy out of the office. "We have to get our schedules, just like all the other kids. We'll get them in the Great Hall."

The two boys ran towards the great hall, ignoring Filch's screams for them to walk. When they entered the hall, Charlie Weasley, who was a prefect, handed them schedules. "Mum said to mind your teachers and don't be late for class Ron. And Harry, Professor McGonagall wanted me to remind you that you're not to skive off to follow us around or you won't be allowed a flying lesson tonight."

When the two boys nodded the older Weasley headed off to had out the other schedules and Harry and Ron poured over theirs. "Math first…with Professor Snape." 

Math was going slowly. It wasn't either boy's best subject and they'd sat slowly at the desks scratching their quills through the addition problem set. Snape had explained what to do, but then he'd left the boys to work and was grading potions essays at his desk. Finally Harry through down his quill. "Done!" He announced happily. 

Snape looked up and held out his hand. Harry obediently put the paper he'd been working on in his professor's hand. Almost immediately the quill came down with red ink. Harry frowned. It only took Snape a few seconds to grade the homework and hand it back. "Try again Harry." 

Harry frowned in frustration. He'd only gotten half of the problems right. "You made a mistake." He insisted. 

Snape looked up with a sigh. "No, Harry, you got those wrong. Try them again."

"No. They're right." Harry insisted. "I don't get things wrong. I'm 'the-boy-who-lived.' Everything _I do is right."_

Snape's eyebrows raised. "Indeed? I think not Mr. Potter. Who told you that?"

"One of the boys in Slytherin."

"Well, it isn't true. You are Harry Potter, a boy, no more or less than any other, and like every other boy in the world, you have absolutely no head for mathematics. Those problems are wrong. I expect to see them redone for tomorrow." As he spoke he wrote out a note on a piece of paper. Then he folded the parchment in half and handed it to the boy. "Hand that to your mother Harry. And I will know if she hasn't gotten it."

Harry scowled and picked up his bag. He stalked toward his next lesson, Ron trailing after him. They walked into the empty transfiguration classroom where they were to have their English lesson. McGonagall was sitting at her desk. She took in Harry's angry countenance passively and took the note from him without a word. She left it sitting on her desk and handed the two boys a primer. "This is you're reading text. We'll also be using it as a grammar text. Today we're going to study nouns."

The lesson went by smoothly, but at the end, McGonagall made them wait, while she read Snape's note. She was not pleased when she looked up. "Harry James Potter. I am very disappointed in your behavior. What have I told you about that 'boy who lived' nonsense?"

Harry was standing ramrod straight, hands clasped behind his back. He recited the lecture he'd already heard many times. "Being the boy who lived makes you very lucky, and means when you get older you'll have great responsibilities, but it doesn't mean you're perfect or that you can go around behaving like a brat."

"Do you think your behavior with Professor Snape was that of a brat? Or of Mama's good boy?"

"Brat." He mumbled. He looked down at his shoe, ashamed of how he'd been acting. 

"You will redo that math homework tonight and write a nice apology letter to Professor Snape. And you will eat dinner in our chambers tonight. Is that clear."

"Yes ma'am."

"Now, I believe you are over do for a creature lesson with Professor Kettleborn." She kissed the top of Harry's head. "Have fun, and behave. I'll see you two in an hour for lunch."

The rest of the day went by much faster and soon it was time for the last lesson. History, muggle and wizard. But there was no teacher listed on the schedule. The two boys made their way as quickly as they could, up the steps to the classroom indicated. "I hope we don't have Binns." Ron whispered as they entered the room. "Charlie and Bill said no one can stay awake in his classes." Harry nodded.

"I can assure you that I am not Professor Binns Mr. Weasley." Came an amused voice from the shadows. 

Ron and Harry jumped and turned. Smiling down at them, very amused, was Professor Dumbledore. "Hello papa." Harry greeted the older man rather sedately, he had a feeling that his mama had already told Dumbledore about Harry's misadventures this morning. 

Dumbledore smiled affectionately down at the boy and ruffled his hair. "Hello Harry." He instructed both boys to sit on the floor and then he sat in front of them. "History is a wonderful subject. You see boys, history is really just a bunch of stories, so that's what this class is, story time." Ron and Harry looked excited, finally a class that wouldn't have tremendous amounts of homework. "Today's story is about you Harry. It's about how you came to be the boy who lived."

Harry and Ron left their history class very somberly. There wasn't anything fun about being the boy who lived. Harry didn't want to be the boy who lived. "Harry, my mum always says to look at the silver lining, and well, Professor McGonagall wouldn't be your Mama if your parents had lived." 

Harry shrugged. "Yeah. I guess." Then he changed the subject, not wanting to talk about it. "What are you going to do about the assignment we got from our creature class."

Ron wrinkled his nose. "I don't know, Mum'll probably make me take care of Errol or something. What about you?"

"I'm not sure, but I'm looking forward to telling Mama that Uncle Kellen said I have to have a pet." He grinned impishly. "She's been telling me no for the last two years."

They entered the Harry's rooms together, laughing as they thought up all the outrageous pets Harry could try and talk McGonagall into. "Well, I'm glad to see you had fun today boys." Molly Weasley greeted them as she set aside her tea and stood. "We have to go home now Ron, but you'll see Harry in the morning." 

The boys said goodbye and Molly and Ron left by floo. As soon as they were gone, Harry turned to where his mama was still sitting by the tea. "How was your afternoon Harry?" Her voice was soft and gentle as she watched him from over her glasses.

Harry frowned at the bun in her hair. He never liked her hair pulled back. She wore it down more often now, because he frequently asked her to, and sometimes she pulled it back in a braid, but every once in a while it found its way back into a bun. "It was alright. Papa told us about the night Voldemort killed….my other parents. And Uncle Kellen says that our assignment for creatures class is to take care of a pet, so now I have to have one." He supplied as he removed the pins from her hair, pulling it down.

Minerva sighed. "That man, he finally found a way to get you a pet. Very well, we'll go to Diagon Alley this weekend and get you one. What did you think of Albus's lecture?"

Harry shuffled his feet. "Its more scary to be the boy who lived than fun." He whispered finally. "It certainly isn't the kind of special I had in mind."

She pulled him into her arms, settling him on her lap. "I would imagine not m'bairn." He stayed close to her, one hand playing with a piece of her hair, the other curled into a fist with his thumb in his mouth. She rocked him for a few moments before kissing his head and setting him on the floor. "I tell you what Harry. If you redo your math right now, you can bring it to dinner and give it to Professor Snape. Then you can apologize to him and eat dinner with us. It will give you and Albus time to brainstorm about what kind of pet you want."

Harry looked excited as he raced off to do the assignment. 

The weekend came rather quickly and Harry dragged Minerva through Diagon Alley to the Magical Menagerie. Once inside he stared in absolute delight at all the strange creatures but it was finally a rather plain baby bird with pinkish feathers that caught his eye. "Mama what's that?" 

"That my boy is a phoenix." The wizard behind the counter told him. 

"You are not getting  a phoenix Harry." His mother told him firmly.

"Can we get it for Papa?" Harry pleaded. "He told me he always wanted one, and his birthday's next week." 

Minerva looked down into the liquid eyes and felt herself melting. "Oh, very well Harry. But you need to pick out something as well. What about a flubberworm."

Harry shook his head. "No thank you. I would like a kitten please. And that way you can have someone to play with when you're Tabby."

Minerva smiled at his generosity. Harry took the baby phoenix and a small black kitten up to the counter. 

Harry could barely wait the week to give his Papa the Phoenix, but with a little help from his mama, Ron, and all of his homework, he managed. Until the morning, exactly of the Headmaster's birthday. Then he was out of bed before dawn. He picked up the bird and ran out of the room. He knew the password to the headmaster's chambers for emergency purposes, so he called it out and ran inside. It was dark inside, which made sense, because Harry, Filch and the ghosts were the only things up. Harry carefully held the bird so it couldn't fly away and crept toward the giant four poster bed. The bed was much bigger than him and it took him a few minutes to manage to get up without letting go of the present. 

Finally however he was atop the crimson covers and he scooted over to the figure in the bed and poked it. Dumbledore snorted and rolled over, but he didn't wake up. So Harry tried something else. He leaned in very close and screamed in the sleeping mans ear. "Wake Up!"

Dumbledore bolted up in bed. "What the….Merlin, Harry, you scared me. What are you doing in here?"

Harry frowned. "Its your birthday Papa. I came to bring you your present." With those words he held out the tiny bird in his hands. 

Dumbledore's eyes widened. "That's a Phoenix." He took the bird and stroked its head. A soft happy note emerged from the little creature. Albus smiled. "And it looks like he's happy enough to stay. You see Harry, Phoenixes aren't pets, they're companions, they have to want to stay with you."

Harry looked down at the bird then back up at his Papa. "Who wouldn't want to stay with you?"

Dumbledore kissed the top of his head. "Thank you Harry. And I love my present."H


	4. The Year Before Hogwarts

A/N: Long over due, here it is: the next chapter! This one is a bit short and it skips a few years, mainly because I thought those years would be pretty normal and I really wanted to get into what goes on in the books partially cuz it will make my life easier, and partially because that's when the AD/MM stuff is going to come in. But here's the year before Hogwarts. 

If you read, PLEASE review. I haven't been getting many (re: almost no) reviews as of late, at best on all the stories I've posted recently I've gotten maybe two per chapter, I'm feeling very unloved. So I beg you, love me enough to review…even criticism is welcome, provided it's CONSTRUCTIVE and not just insulting

Chapter 4: The Year before Hogwarts

Harry and Ron grinned wickedly as they snuck into the potions classroom. Fred and George had slipped them some muggle firecrackers, heavens knew where they got them, and dared the younger boys to put them under the potions master's chair, then light them in the middle of a lesson. Harry and Ron knew they shouldn't of course, and they knew if they were caught they'd get in big trouble, but it didn't matter at the moment. 

There was a side entrance to classroom that few knew about and Snape never watched. That was how they entered. Of course, sneaking though the room would have been easier when they were four and barely noticeable, but they didn't worry about it. Well, Ron did, until Harry assured him that he had a plan. Harry removed a wand from his pocket, whose wand, Ron didn't know and gave it a quick swish and flick. "Wingardium Leviosa." He whispered. The firecrackers didn't lift, but they did move a bit. So little by little Harry repeated the charm, moving the red cylinders a little bit further each time. Finally, just as they got to the chair, he managed to make them hover a bit, making getting them directly under the seat a little easier. 

"Now we just have to light them." He whispered. 

Ron grabbed the wand out of his hand and grinned. "Leave that to me." He shut one eye and aimed. "Incendio." He whispered. 

A bit of flame caught and crackled on the end of the line. Moments later, loud sharp bangs startled the class and the potions master right out of his seat. The boys laughed softly as Snape cursed and they ran. Of course he knew immediately who it was. The Weasley twins had been a bad influence, and no one else knew how to get to the side door, that was slightly ajar. "POTTER! WEASLEY!" He roared. 

His voice shook the dungeon, and the two boys were unlucky enough that Professor McGonagall just happened to be near enough to hear him. She turned quickly and marched over to the stairs just as her ward and his best friend appeared. They stopped, worry and guilt crossing their faces. "What did you do?" 

The boys shifted under her hard gaze. "Just noise makers." Harry muttered. 

"Fred and George gave them to us." Ron added. "They dared us to put them under Professor Snape's chair."

"They just scared him Mama." Harry insisted. "They couldn't hurt anyone."

"Be that as it may," She started as she took their hands and began to guide them down the stair case, "You both know better than that." She lectured them all the way down the stair case and dragged them right back into the classroom. "Professor Snape."

Severus swept briskly over to her and the two contrite boys in her grasp. He glared down at Harry and Ron. "So good to see you boys. I trust I don't need to explain why you'll both be helping me clean the cauldrons tonight?"

"No sir." They chorused. 

McGonagall nodded and swept her gaze over the classroom. "Mssrs. Weasley?" The twins looked up nervously. "Twenty points from Gryffindor and detention tonight with Mr. Filch."

"Yes Professor." Fred and George sighed before turning back to their potions. 

            That afternoon after their last class, Harry and Ron headed down to the dungeons where Snape was waiting to oversee their detentions. He was grading papers at his desk and when they entered he didn't even look up, simply pointed to the sink, where a large pile of cauldrons was sitting. The two boys went over and immediately set to work in silence. Their silence only lasted a few minutes, however. Not long after setting to work a quiet conversation started between the boys. "How come you call Professor Dumbledore Papa when he and Professor McGonagall aren't married?" 

            Harry shrugged. "He helped raise me too, didn't he? He's always been like a Papa."

            Ron thought about that for a moment. "Well, how come they don't get married?"

            "Mama says they don't love each other that way."

            "Oh, hey, Harry do you want to come to the Cannons game next weekend?"

            The conversation moved on to other topics, but at his desk Severus couldn't help but smile. The topic of conversation remained at Quidditch for the rest of their detention. An hour later the cauldrons were sparkling, drying on a towel. Snape swept over and inspected. "Very well done Gentlemen." He praised them silkily. "You are both free to go, unless you'd like to stay and help Harry?"

            Harry nodded eagerly and waved goodbye to Ron. Then he ran over to the cauldron on the desk and looked at the ingredients sitting out. Snape smiled and laid a hand on the boy's shoulder. Severus could still see a lot of James and Lily in their son as well as a lot of the headmaster and deputy headmistress, but living in close quarters with the boy for ten years he'd learned to see and enjoy the things that were uniquely Harry, most especially the boy's love and talent in potions, a gift rather comparable to his own. "What are we making today Harry?" He asked softly. 

            Harry studied the ingredients on the table, some of them were unlabeled so he picked them up and studied their texture, color and scent. He'd been helping in the potions lab since he'd been two and thanks to the tutelage his potions knowledge was already above most fifth years. "Polyjuice." He finally decided.

            "Excellent. And what do we do first?" Snape asked moving to stand next to him. 


End file.
